Authors: Ben Ruhe
Date Submitted: August 31, 2002
Article Type: Journal

As part of its role in increasing and diffusing knowledge about kites worldwide, the Drachen Foundation maintains a study collection of kites, kite artifacts, and publications related to the sport. A recent and welcome addition to that collection came from the family of Seattle kitemaker Harold Writer, who died last year, aged 88.

Writer’s children Linda and Richard gave the kites and other objects to Jim Day and Kathy Goodwind, long-time Seattle kite enthusiasts, and the pair in turn turned over the collection to Drachen on permanent loan. As well as kites, the gift included reels, spools, and a range of kite magazines and newsletters, including 44 issues of the important Kite Lines, now no longer published. The largest single holding of newsletters is from the Washington State Kitefliers Association.

Scott Skinner, president of Drachen, says the Writer kites have particular historical significance “because they span Depression times of the early l930s to the modern, high tech period. Harold’s first kites as a boy were made with sticks and paper, as a youth he planed hardwood down to make spars and used cotton fabric for sails, and in his maturity he switched to ripstop nylon, fiberglass spars, and Kevlar line—space age materials.

PDF Link: Journal Issue